Is 'Millionaire' park's final answer?

Attraction may be used to boost Disney's 'California'

By

RussBritt

ANAHEIM, Calif. (CBS.MW) -- Walt Disney Co. is taking several steps to boost attendance at its lackluster California Adventure theme park, one of which may include an attraction based on its game show "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?"

Word is circulating among theme-park observers that Disney
DIS, -1.35%
is looking to duplicate an attraction based on "Millionaire" that it has at its Disney MGM Studios in Florida. The company did not respond to "Millionaire" reports.

If true, the move comes on the heels of several other actions Disney has taken to boost attendance at California Adventure, which reportedly has been at roughly half of expectations. Disney denies this, saying that attendance has been improving steadily, but it won't provide attendance numbers.

Disney also is reviving the popular "Main Street Electrical Parade" for California Adventure. And it created a pricing plan that allows three- and four-day visitors to hop between it and the main Disneyland park.

"We always listen to our guests," said Michele Nachum, spokeswoman for Disney parks. "They want to be able to hop between the parks."

All these steps come three months after Disney first opened the doors to California Adventure on Feb. 8. Company sources and park observers say attendance has been at roughly half or less the 33,000-person capacity on most days since it opened. There have been a few scattered days when attendance came close to capacity, sources say.

Rumors of a "Millionaire" attraction are circulating as the company is coming up with ways to boost attendance, said Dennis Spiegel, president of International Theme Park Services Inc., a consultancy based in Cincinnati. There also was a report Tuesday on the Web site MousePlanet.com that Disney was planning the new attraction.

Disney's "Millionaire" attraction in Florida allows park-goers to sit in the game show's famed hot seat and play before an audience, similar to the TV show. Disney would put the attraction at its Hollywood Pictures backlot, which has been criticized for lacking in attractions, in a move that Spiegel says would make sense.

But Spiegel is concerned that with all of these plans, Disney is not getting at the heart of the problem with California Adventure -- there isn't enough to do for the admission paid.

"It is the same old bowl of potato salad with a different mayonnaise on it," he said. "There is no short-term fix for this."

The Main Street Electrical Parade revives an attraction that was discontinued in 1996 at Disneyland and places it at the new park. The nighttime parade features 500,000 lights on 30 floats, and it used to run through the heart of Disneyland during its 24-year run there.

Disneyland diehards have been calling for revival of the parade since it was discontinued. By reviving it for California Adventure, Disney officials are hoping to kill two birds with one stone -- meet demand and try to keep people in the new park after dark, which has been a slow time thus far.

The Main Street Electrical Parade served Disneyland well in helping to keep patrons in the park into the night. It will start running through the middle of California Adventure on July 4.

The pricing plan kicks in immediately and is designed to address concerns that users get one-third the attractions at California Adventure that one gets at Disneyland but pay the same $43 daily admission. Under the new plan, patrons can get a three-day pass for $111 or a four-day pass for $137 and hop between parks.

Al Lutz, owner of MousePlanet.com, said the company has yet to address the issue of one-day visitors who may want to hop between parks. That's a crucial clientele because, unlike Walt Disney World in central Florida, 60 percent of Disneyland resort visitors in California are locals, Lutz said.

"They're suffering from a bunch of ills at this time," Lutz said.

But the company continues to create a Disney World-like resort at Disneyland. Along with the two parks, three hotels and its Downtown Disney -- a string of shops and restaurants -- another park is planned.

The company received a go-ahead Monday from the Anaheim city planning commission to draft an environmental impact report for a third park on 80 acres of land the company owns, said Ray Gomez, Disneyland spokesman. The land is about a quarter-mile southeast of Disneyland.

Disney originally filed plans to develop the park on July 21. It can go ahead and evaluate the environmental impact based on theme-park use. But it has not developed a theme for the third facility.

"There are no plans or proposal," Gomez said. He said the company could develop a theme and start work as early as 2003 and finish by 2010, but it could take longer.

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